Little Zoo Series: The Three Week Challenge
by ponytail30527
Summary: Can Marshal go three weeks without pranking? Can Skipper go three weeks without his coffee? Find out in this cute Father and Son story!
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah, this is a cute story and I got the idea from Stargazer128, who wrote a part of this series called Bad Grades, so go check it out when ya can. Part of Little Zoo Series!**

**I don't own the Penguins of Madagascar.**

Marshal handed his dad and his uncles a pair of ear muffs for each of them. "Yep, Prince J.J. said King Julien's gonna throw a big party tonight." He said trying to keep back a snort as his tiny flippers handed them the blue and black spotted ear muffs. "I'd put these on if I were you."

"Thanks Marshal!" Private exclaimed putting them on his head, but Skipper got a little suspicious. Private went to head off to bed, but Skipper's flipper stopped him before he could climb into their stone bunks.

"And when did you start caring about our slumber on Ringtail's parties?" he asked giving his son a small look that said he wasn't buying it.

Marshal opened his beak offended. "Wha, oh come on! Do you think I'd_ really_ pull a prank on you guys while you were sleeping and the ear muffs are on your heads to keep you from hearing me?"

Marshal's answer was four ear muffs tossed back to him. "Guess so." Skipper said turning to their bunks.

"Dad" Marshal said with a small laugh getting their attention. "I swear on the penguin credo that these earmuffs aren't to keep you from hearing anything." He said putting his small flipper on his chest making it blend in with this down feathers. "Promise." He said with a small smile looking up at them.

Skipper sighed and put the pair earmuffs on his head. "Okay, I trust you word son, so let's not turn this into a boy who cried wolf situation." He said with a warning look before climbing into his bunk.

Athena, Elli, and Buttons waddled in and saw their dad's sleeping with earmuffs on. "Marshal, why are our dads wearing earmuffs?" Athena asked cocking a brow at him and pointing to their dad's bunks.

Marshal smiled. "Wait for it." He said with his trouble grin.

"Ahh!" the adult penguins shouted as a blast of loud rock n' roll music blasted out of their earmuffs and into their ears. Each of them ripped them off and flung them across the H.Q. before giving Marshal a death glare. "MARSHAL!" They shouted getting up and walking to him with their flippers on their sides in an angry manner.

"Could someone explain what just happened?" Elli asked confused.

Marshal rolled on the floor with laughter. "Headphones!" he said between laughs still on the concrete. "They're really headphones! Man, I told Eggy and Peanut that this was a good idea, no one saw it coming!"

"Marshal, what am I gonna do with you?" Skipper asked shaking his head and rolling his eyes with his flippers still in on his sides.

Rico hacked up a red and lit stick dynamite with an angry look on his face from Marshal's prank. "KABLAMO!" He shouted.

"Let's not put lethal force into this. All it needs is a little parental talking to." He said giving a look to Marshal, who was sitting up now. "Don't think I haven't thought about it though."

Marshal shrugged. "It's just a prank." He said in an innocent tone with a cute smile.

Skipper sighed and picked up his son so he was in his flippers. "What is this, the fourth lecture this week?" he asked as he carried him into another part of the H.Q.

"Third, I think you're mixing it up with last week." Marshal answered. He looked up at his dad with sad blue eyes. "Do I need another lecture?"

"No"

"huh?"

"WHAT?!?!" all the other penguins shouted watching the two.

Skipper sat down on a stone chair and placed Marshal on his lap like a dad would do. "You like challenges right?" he asked.

Marshal looked up and thought for a minute with a thinking look on his face tapping his flipper to his beak, but he smiled and had his trouble grin on as he nodded his head when his head was back down and facing his dad. "Yep, I'm the king of dares and challenges!" he exclaimed proudly. "Oh, and don't forget pranks."

"Because no one with a brain would touch their tongue to the green substance in the toilet" Athena said rolling her brown eyes and crossing her flippers when he mentioned his dare title.

"Yuck" Buttons grunted out sticking hit tongue out in a sick manner.

"Anyways, since you like challenges, how about we make a deal?" Skipper asked.

"You have my attention, but what's the catch?" Marshal asked.

"I dare and challenge you to go not pull one prank for three weeks." Skipper said.

"And, if I take this challenge, what are my advantages?" Marshal asked getting more and more interested in this.

"If you win, then I'll do your chores for a week." Skipper said.

Everyone's beaks dropped open. "Whoa" Rico said.

"Okay, but what about you? I mean, I've got to have some motivation in this. Three weeks without pranking? I'd die!" Marshal overly dramatically said. He fake coughed. "I'm getting sick just thinking about it!"

"Fine, I'll stop doing something for three weeks." Skipper said thinking he already won. What does he have that he can't live without for three weeks?

Marshal smiled. "Deal, but I'll have to think of something." He tapped his beak and looked around the H.Q. _Think! What can my dad not live without for three weeks? _He scanned the area and saw a piece of dynamite. _Maybe, if this was Rico or Buttons, Clip board? Nah, Uncle Kowalski, Come on dude, a week without chores! _He thought harder and harder, then after a few moments he snapped. "I've got it!"

"What?" Skipper asked.

"Every day when I'm getting ready for school, I see you with that fish coffee." He said, making Skipper frown. "Three weeks, my dad!"

"Skipper, can I talk to you for a minute?" Kowalski said dragging Skipper over to him, Private, and Rico. "Skipper, have you gone mad?" he yelled in a whisper to his leader. "If you take this challenge, not only will you go crazy, but you being tired in the morning will make you grumpy and that will affect _us_! I can barely stand the normal you already-oh" the intelligent penguin said realizing that he said too much.

Skipper narrowed his blue eyes at him. "Listen Solider, I don't give up a challenge, so maybe I'll have to find a way to wake up in the morning, but I will not do my son's chores for a week, I'll tell you that right now! Besides, the boy loves to pull his pranks, he won't last a day." he said poking a very scared Kowalski in the chest. He turned around to his son. "Okay deal." He said shaking his flipper as if he were a grown up.

Marshal smiled, but then he frowned. "Can this start tomorrow?" he asked.

"Why?" Skipper asked.

Just then they heard a big boom behind them and when the smoke cleared, three paint covered penguin soon recognized at Athena, Elli, and Buttons. "MARSHAL!" the three shouted glaring at him.

Marshal snorted. "Surprise!" he said waving his flippers in the air, but he frowned and ran when the three started to chase him around the H.Q. "It was a Joke! Come on!" he shouted fleeing for his life.

The four penguins watched their kids run around the H.Q. "Should we stop them Skippa?" Private asked.

Skipper yawned. "Night men, if I'm gonna get operation, three weeks up to a good start, I'm gonna need all the shut eye I can get." He said before climbing into his bunk for the night.

"Guess not." Private said before jumping into his bed.

**Well, there ya have it! See what happens when Skipper and Marshal take in their new challenges in the next chapter! **

**Review! : )**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here's the second chapter! Sorry it took me a while to get it up, I've been busy with a few other stories is all.**

**I hope you enjoy it!**

The next morning, Skipper woke up with a yawn as he sat up in his stone buck, up before everyone else as usual. The first thought to his mind was to make his fish coffee, but then it reminded him of the bet last night. He let out a small moan. "Three weeks without the energy boost of my coffee, this is gonna be tougher than I thought." He said shaking his head regretting the bet. Then he looked up. "What am I saying? I'm Skipper, I've beaten walruses, survived cobra attacks, why should I whine like a baby over a drink?" he asked himself boosting his confidence, but the moment he stepped on the ground, he fell over tired. "Scratch that, a really helpful drink." He mumbled as he got up.

A few minutes later, Skipper woke everyone up. After a few failed attempts, he became frustrated. "Rise and shine!" he hollered out, but he felt ready to plop back in bed like everyone else seemed to as they fluttered their eyes open and got out of bed.

"Morning Skippa!" Private said in a cheery tone, but he frowned and backed away when he received a glare and a small growl from his commanding officer. He backed away until his back ran into Kowalski. He turned around and looked up at him. "What's wrong with Skippa, Kowalski?" he asked in a worried tone.

"It's just his de-caf stage one." Kowalski said. He looked up at his leader. "Grouchiness, tiredness, and then he'll go completely crazy." He said with a small shudder at the thought. "I must say, I am impressed with Marshal's ability to think of such a devious plan to deprive Skipper of his coffee." He said. "Don't tell Skipper this, but I thought Marshal wasn't smart enough to think of that." He whispered in Private's ear.

"Oooh!" Rico said showing he had heard the whole thing.

"Shush Rico, or he'll use _you _to clean up the mess!" Kowalski whispered making the explosive expert shut up.

After all the adult penguins were awake, they got up the kids for school. "What are you going to do today Marshal?" Elli asked looking at Marshal, who was still sitting himself up really tired. She smiled because this was going to be three sweet weeks of no pranks.

Marshal opened his beak to answer about a prank he and his friends were going to pull on Pinky, but then he remembered the bet. "Uh…I guess, I'll just hang out with Eggy and Peanut." He said. Yeah! Peanut and Eggy would stay with him through the tough weeks ahead of him, right?

**Later that day. . . . . . . . **

"WHAT?!?!" Peanut and Eggy exclaimed at the same time after Marshal told them the story. "Dude, that has to be the stupidest thing you've ever done, and you've done _a lot _of stupid things." Peanut said wondering if she should slap some sense into him. He and Eggy sat across from Marshal at the duck habitat.

Eggy's eyes widened. "What happens if you lose the bet?"

Marshal shuddered. "It's the usual." He whispered as if he were ashamed.

"And the usual is…" Peanut said cocking a brow.

"If I told you, you'd _want _me to lose the bet." Marshal said. He grabbed a few of his papers. "I gotta head home. If I even smell a coffee bean, I'm back. I promise on my whoopee couching!" he said before running home. When he got there, he didn't smell coffee, but he did see a very worn out Skipper lying on the couch with a very worried team surrounding him.

"We've got to give him his coffee K'walski!" Private said as he held Skipper's sleeping head up.

"No way on my watch, you know as well as I do what Marshal and I have set up for bets don't you?" Skipper mumbled making the team nod. "You don't want to see your commanding officer do that do you?" he asked, when his team didn't answer he looked up angrily. "WELL?" he shouted.

Private laughed nervously, and he was starting to think he was taking this bet too seriously. "Of course not Skippa, it's just…" he looked around the room for an excuse. "Oh look its Marshal!" he said pointing to him as Marshal walked in the room with a little smirk on his face.

Skipper shot up. "Great work team! 900 pushups that almost beat our new record!" he shouted as he sat up trying to look awake.

Marshal chuckled. "Good day without coffee dad?" he asked.

Skipper rolled his eyes. "How about you with your pranking?"

Marshal sighed. _Don't remind me. I'm serious Mason was so asking for it when he told me to throw away his banana peel at lunch today._ He thought to himself. He looked up at his dad, who was now giving _him _a small smirk. "You know, it was so easy. I've never felt so free not to have someone trying to catch you every five minutes." He lied.

Skipper smiled reading his son like an open book. "It's only day one son, so you better enjoy it." He said making Marshal sweat and gulp.

"Great" he said, but he didn't mean it.

Unlike Marshal, Athena was enjoying this bet all the way. She wasn't going to have to worry about Marshal putting hot sauce in her food, or put itching powder in her pillow! The next three weeks were going to be as good as the clearness of a clean diamond. "Hey Marshal!" she said to Marshal, who was leaning down over his homework. "What cha doing?" she asked just trying to tease him.

Marshal growled knowing that Athena was teasing him. "Well, I got nothing better to do, so I might as well do my homework." He grumbled before looking back down at his paper. "huh, the displacement measurement is just dropping something in water and measuring how much it went up. Who knew?" he said.

Athena smiled. "Usually, this is where you'd smile your trouble grin and I'd run, but no, you're doing homework!" she said with a laugh, but that only made Marshal growl some more.

"Thanks for the support Athena." He said sarcastically as he shut the book. "Maybe there's something good on T.V." he said before dashing off to the television. "Man it's just the news!" she pouted nearly punching the anchor man on the screen. "Who needs the news?

Athena chuckled.

**The next week. . . . . . . . . **

Skipper tried to keep his head up as he trained his team while the kids were at school. All week it had been nothing but grouchiness and falling asleep in the strangest of places. "Okay men, today we'll be practicing our-" he then just plopped on the ground snoring like a chainsaw. "Nappy boom" he whispered in his sleep.

"Kaboom?" Rico grunted out at the word boom, but Kowalski and Private told him no, again.

"Kowalski, I don't think he can take much more of this. I mean, he'd never stop training." Private said as they picked up Skipper's sleeping body and carried him in the H.Q. for the fifth time this week. "I feel bad just to go to sleep because of where Skipper's at!" he said as they plopped him on the couch and put a blanket on him.

Kowalski sighed. "Good Galileo, I think Skipper's getting heavier!" he said rubbing his back. He looked up and thought. "Don't worry Private; I've come up with a solution for the problem. I'm in the middle of making a new energy drink that should give Skipper _all _the energy he needs for the remainder of the three weeks." He said heading to his chemical set and taking out a red colored chemical.

"Is it safe?" Private asked fiddling his flippers nervously.

"Well, I haven't tested yet, but I'm _always _correct aren't I?" he asked with a smile. He frowned when Rico and Private looked away and whistled while shuffling their feet. "Okay, maybe I've been off a few times, but not when it comes to chemicals! This is going to work for sure!" he said before pouring the chemical in Skipper's beak.

Just then Skipper's blue eyes popped open. "Heyteamwhatareyoudoing?" he asked too fast.

"Huh?" Rico said cocking his head to the side.

"ThisisgreatI'veneverfeltsoaliveinmylfe!" he said before running around the H.Q. he then reached in the drawer and took out a large wooden plank. "I'mgonnabuildatreehouse!" he started. Now, his voice was sounding like a chipmunk as he ran around the H.Q. like Prince J.J. on a sugar rush.

Kowalski took out his clipboard and did the math. "Oh! I see, I didn't give Skipper enough energy to last three weeks, I gave him three weeks worth of energy in a day." Kowalski said watching his captain literally bounce off the walls. "Somebody should probably stop that." He mumbled embarrassed that he was wrong, again.

"whatareyoutalkingabout?I'mfine!" Skipper shouted out as he knocked over Kowalski's chemical set by jumping on the table.

"NO!" Kowalski called out in horror as his chemistry set started to fall to the ground. He jumped under the table where his chemical set was, and caught all fragile test tubes before the shattered on the floor. "Phew" he said in relief, but just then, a really big beaker landed on Kowalski's gut with a thud. "Ow-Okay, that's it! Get him boys!" Kowalski called out before the penguins ran after Skipper before he could do anymore damage.

**Later that day. . . . . . . . . . . . **

Marshal wanted to pull a prank so bad. As he walked home from school, everything looked like an opportunity to prank someone. King Julien was dancing, and that meant that they could sneak some itching powder on his throne, Phil and Mason had a entire box full of banana peels at their habitat, and there was a bucket of dye next to the penguin habitat today. "Ugh! How long can three weeks be!" he hollered.

Athena, Elli, and Buttons, who had been walking next to him, looked at him strangely. "You know Marshal, the usually isn't _that _bad. I don't like seeing you like this. If it's killing you that much, then you should do something." Elli said putting her flipper oh his back.

Marsha shook his head. "It might not be bad, but it's embarrassing!" he said. Just then his head popped up and he glared at Elli. "Why, do you _want _me to lose? You seem awfully cheery about me pulling a prank!" he snapped making Elli back away from him and hide behind Athena and Buttons the rest of the way home.

"Nice." Buttons grunted out sarcastically. Marshal had been like that ever since the week started. He acted snappy, and sometimes depressed.

Peanut and Eggy ran up to them. It looked like they ran because they were panting. "You have got to go home." Peanut said between pants.

Marshal looked away from his friends. Instead of standing by him being supportive, they went off, and pulled pranks without him. It wasn't like Marshal wouldn't do the same thing, but it hurts when it's him. They did try though. It lasted about three days until they saw that pack of itching powder.

"Why?" Athena asked actually interested in what they had to say.

"Marshal's dad went crazy! Mr. Kowalski, Private, and Rico are trying to calm him down. He's either cracked or is on a sugar rush, cause he's bouncing off the walls and sounds like Alvin and the chipmunks." Eggy explained calming down and getting his breath back.

"Why were you at the H.Q.?" Elli asked.

Peanut smiled at Marshal. "Well, we felt bad that we kinda ditched you like that, so we were making sure he wasn't drinking coffee." He said making Marshal turn around.

"Really?" he asked cocking a brow. He didn't see any dye on their feathers or fur, so he smiled. "Thanks dude!"

"Not that I'm trying to stop you two from resolving your fight, but maybe we should get Uncle Skippa." Elli said.

"uh-huh!" Buttons said in agreement before he, Athena, and Elli ran to the H.Q., but when they turned back around, they saw Eggy, Peanut, and Marshal high-fiving each other showing that the feud was over. "Aw!" Buttons said at the same time with Elli as they watched the three, but Athena just rolled her eyes thinking it was so stupid to fight over who can place the whoopee couching under the seat, or put the dye in the water.

Elli giggled. "You're just mad because the TMB's are back. Now come on, I think I hear crashing at out habitat."

The once again friends finally met back up with Athena, Elli, and Buttons starring at their habitat. They weren't staring at their habitat, but at Skipper, who was bouncing in the water like a jet ski. "Thisissomuchfun!" he shouted in his chipmunk voice as his team ran after him.

"Come on Skipper, just take a breather." Kowalski said trying to negotiate with him, but he either didn't hear him or ignored him. Kowalski fell to the platform exhausted like Private and Rico.

"I don't think…we're gonna catch him." Private panted lying down too.

Just then six figures appeared over them. "Dad?" Athena's voice said.

Kowalski looked up. "Oh, Athena, Skipper's-"

"-gone off his nut!" Eggy said watching Skipper run around.

"Sure, let's go with that." Kowalski said.

"Dad, is there a cure or something for whatever you did to Skipper?" Athena asked.

"What? How come it's _always _my fault? I mean, isn't it possible that Skipper drank a chemical to get a boost, and I wasn't involved at all?" Kowalski asked shaking his head at the kids.

"So you didn't do it?" Peanut asked.

"Well…" Kowalski started.

"Then wyhy would you bring up a debate about it if you had something to do with it? I mean, that's like saying reasons you could be innocent, but then you admit you're guilty." Eggy said. "Now isn't there something we can do? Like a potion that can make him stop?"

Kowalski snickered. "Honestly, I liked you better as an egg." He whispered so Eggy wouldn't hear him. "Okay," he said getting back in a hearable voice. "One, it's not potions, its chemicals, and two, there is a cure, but it's only found in chemicals commonly found in water coloring or pool dye." He explained.

Marshal gasped. "I know what to do!"

"Great!" Kowalski said, but he frowned when Marshal wouldn't do anything. "Well, aren't you going to save your dad before he wrecks our home?" he asked the young penguin. He then jumped at a crash. "-Anymore that he already has?"

"I know what to do, but pouring pool dye in the water sounds like a prank to me." Marshal said with a small smirk, and after Peanut and Eggy figured out that this was his ticket out of this bet without doing whatever the usual was, they smirked too.

Athena opened her beak to say something, but then she closed it. "He's right, which means that he'd be losing the bet if he stopped his dad." She said in disbelief that Marshal actually made a point for once in his life.

"And I take my bets _very_ seriously." Marshal said with a small smile.

**Oh boy! Will they stop Skipper? What's the usual? Does this mean that the bet's over? **

**Find out in the next chapter!**


End file.
